Gold and Bronze Canoe Sprint success
12th August 2012
The Olympic Canoe Sprint regatta finished on a high, with the newly introduced 200m competition going down a storm with spectators and all involved.
Alex Nikonorov 200m squad bought an already successful Olympic regatta to a stunning end. Ed McKeever the coolest customer on the lake held his nerve to deliver a blistering performance, bringing home Gold and being crowned the first ever 200m Kayak Single Olympic Champion, raising Team GB’s Gold medal tally to 26.
McKeevers training partners Liam Heath and Jon Schofield knew they had their work cut out in the final up against with a head wind and a strong field. The pairing didn’t let anything faze them and with a fantastic start held on strong to claim the Olympic Bronze, adding to their already comprehensive medal collection.
These medals capped of a fine performance from the Canoe Sprint Team at the 2012 Olympics. The women’s K4 of Jess Walker, Rachel Cawthorn, Angela Hannah and Louisa Sawers used the home crowd roars in lane one to drive their boat home to a 5th place, a fantastic achievement securing Great Britain’s best ever women’s result at an Olympic Games. Back out on the water on her own, Rachel Cawthorn did herself proud in the K1 500m to finish 6th amongst a highly competitive field. Jess Walker competing in her second Olympics at the age of just 22, made her second final in the K1 200m, where she fought hard finishing 7th in an extremely close race.
For Tim Brabants the past 18 months had been far from ideal preparation in defence of his Olympic title, but as a true Champion he didn’t let his title go easily. He eventually finished 8th in his fourth consecutive K1 1000m Olympic final.
Although not in the A final, the women’s K2 500m crew of Abigail Edmonds and Louisa Sawers took 3rd in the B final finishing in an overall position of 11th. Richard Jefferies competed in the C1 1000m and C1 200m finishing 15th and 17th respectively.
It’s been quite a regatta with good racing, fantastic crowds and awesome competition. The twelve Gold medals available have been won across eight nations with sixteen nations from four continents coming away with a least one medal, highlighting the competitiveness and global appeal of sport. Great Britain with their Gold and Bronze finish fifth in the medal table.